NHLPA expected to respond to league proposal

Formal talks between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association are expected to resume Monday morning after the two sides discussed details of the league's latest proposal over multiple conference calls this weekend.

Officials from the two sides concluded informational discussions Sunday after meeting for three hours but there was no collective bargaining. The NHLPA has spent the last three days digesting the newest offer tabled by the NHL on Thursday and could present its own counterproposal.

In its nearly 300-page proposal, the league is now willing to raise the limit on free-agent player contracts from five to six years and allow teams to re-sign their own free agents for as many as seven years. It would pay $300 million over time to players currently under contract to offset money lost to a lowered share of revenue.

The NHL is also proposing to raise the salary variance between years from five to 10 percent and would allow for one compliance buyout that would not count against a team's salary cap number but instead from the players' overall revenue share.

The union figures to take some issue with the salary cap dropping sharply from $70.2 million to $60 million for the 2013-14 season. Another point of contention could be the NHL's insistence on a 10-year agreement where both sides could opt out after eight.

How the players respond to the league offer could determine whether the two sides can move toward ending a lockout that's now 106 days old or further raise the possibility that a second NHL season could be canceled in an eight-year span. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and union head Donald Fehr have not met face to face in more than two weeks.

The league wants a deal done by Jan. 11 so that it can go ahead with a 48-game schedule that would begin on Jan. 19. Games through Jan. 14 have been canceled due to the ongoing work stoppage.

The NHLPA does have at its disposal the option to file a disclaimer of interest, which it must do by Wednesday. If it goes ahead with that maneuver, it would pave the way for a dissolution of the union and allow individual players to file lawsuits against the league with the hope of having the owners' lockout declared illegal in a federal court.

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